Adept (The Essence Gate War, Book 1) - By Michael Arnquist Page 0,74

warned you that Grelthus planned betrayal of some kind, though I did not then know what form it would take.”

“A man in a cage does not inspire trust,” Amric snapped.

“Remember your words when some other fellow finds you here months from now.”

Amric sighed, and struggled to rein in his anger. “I apologize, Syth. My worry for my friend, now a captive of that mad creature, has sharpened my tongue.”

Syth regarded him a moment, a sneer twisting his lips as his hair swirled before his face. Then he grunted and waved a hand in curt dismissal.

“How did you know Grelthus intended betrayal?” Bellimar asked. “Did he know of our approach, and perhaps speak of his plans?”

Syth shook his head. “No, but I am not the first captive Grelthus has held here. I am merely the last. Grelthus was uncertain as to what use my magical nature could be in his efforts to cure his people, but at the same time he was unwilling to dispense with a potentially useful subject. Others were more clearly valuable––or clearly not so––and thus did not last as long.” His jaw clenched and his eyes blazed. “For the first time in my life, I find I am thankful to be an enigma.”

Amric studied the unusual man, reading anguish and rage in every line of his bearing. He found himself believing that the fellow had survived a great deal, and his own thoughts darkened as he considered the implications for Halthak.

“Syth, are there any other exits from this chamber?” he said.

“These transparent walls can be raised somehow, if one is insane enough to flee in the direction of the Essence Fount. Doing so requires the same key device as the door above, however, and though the door mechanism seems simple enough, I have not seen how the viewing walls are triggered.”

Amric frowned, his gaze raking over the bare room. “And your cage, how is it opened?”

“Again, it requires one of those cube-keys that Grelthus always carries upon his person,” Syth responded.

Amric muttered an oath, stalking around the perimeter of the cage. “The trap was well laid; this chamber is devoid of anything we can use to escape. If only we had a heavy table like the one in the upper chamber, we could use it to block these bars of fire long enough for you to leap out, or to force a crack by ramming it into the thick glass wall.”

“I like your thinking, swordsman,” Syth said with an approving nod. “But while your idea might work on my cage, it would fail to even scratch this strange, clear wall, just as your blades will be useless in that regard. The Wyrgen could be quite garrulous, with just a hint of caress to his ego, and he told me once that the viewing walls are not made of anything so fragile as glass, despite their appearance. Rather, he confided to me with no small degree of pride, they are constructed of some strange material, harder than stone, which is as impervious to physical damage as it is to the radiant energy of that accursed fountain.”

“The walls are not as invulnerable as Grelthus would have you believe,” Bellimar remarked, “if the Fount’s eruption breached so many of the viewing chambers.”

“Aye,” Amric said, drawing one of his swords. “And perhaps those that remain were weakened in that initial explosion, or by the subsequent months of exposure to the Fount’s energies. In any event, I am not inclined to wait here on the Wyrgen’s whim without exploring every option. If we can wrest one of those keys from Grelthus, we can return here to free you from that cage.”

“I might have an easier way,” Syth commented, halting the swordsman in mid-step. The prisoner reached inside the rippling folds of his robes and drew forth an object which he then held high in the air for all to see. Perched on his outstretched fingertips, luminous in the shifting hues of the fountain, was one of the peculiar cube-shaped key devices used by the Wyrgens.

“How did you come by it?” Bellimar asked, arching a silver eyebrow.

Syth gave a harsh laugh and twirled the cube between his fingers before making it dance across the back of his knuckles. “I took it from Grelthus’s tunic without him knowing, one time when he passed too close to my cage. At the time, I was kept in the chamber above, though he put an end to that. Oh, how long I practiced for that moment, and